Okay,
explained like you're a five year-old (well, okay, maybe a bit older), without
too much oversimplification, and (hopefully) without sounding too biased:

What
people call "Obamacare" is actually the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act. However, people were calling it "Obamacare"
before everyone even hammered out what it would be. It's a term
mostly used by people who don't like the PPACA, and it's become popularized in
part because PPACA is a really long and awkward name, even when you turn it
into an acronym like that.

Anyway,
the PPACA made a bunch of new rules regarding health care, with the purpose of
making health care more affordable for everyone. Opponents of the PPACA, on the
other hand, feel that the rules it makes take away too many freedoms and force
people (both individuals and businesses) to do things they shouldn't have to.

So what
does it do? Well, here is everything, in the order of when it goes into effect
(because some of it happens later than other parts of it):

Already
in effect:

·It allows the Food and Drug Administration to approve more generic
drugs (making for more competition in the market to drive down prices)

·It increases the rebates on drugs people get through Medicare (so
drugs cost less)

·It establishes a non-profit group, that the government doesn't
directly control, PCORI,
to study different kinds of treatments to see what works better and is the best
use of money. ( Citation: Page
665, sec. 1181 )

·It makes chain restaurants like McDonalds display how many
calories are in all of their foods, so people can have an easier time making
choices to eat healthy. ( Citation: Page
499, sec. 4205 )

·It makes a "high-risk pool" for people with pre-existing
conditions. Basically, this is a way to slowly ease into getting rid of
"pre-existing conditions" altogether. For now, people who already
have health issues that would be considered "pre-existing conditions"
can still get insurance, but at different rates than people without them.

·It renews some old policies, and calls for the appointment of
various positions.

·It says that health insurance companies can no longer tell
customers that they won't get any more coverage because they have hit a
"lifetime limit". Basically, if someone has paid for health
insurance, that company can't tell that person that he's used that insurance
too much throughout his life so they won't cover him any more. They can't do
this for lifetime spending, and they're limited in how much they can do this
for yearly spending. ( Citation: Page
14, sec. 2711 )

·Kids can continue to be covered by their parents' health insurance
until they're 26.

·No more "pre-existing conditions" for kids under the age
of 19.

·Insurers have less ability to change the amount customers have to
pay for their plans.

·People in a "Medicare Gap" get a rebate to make up for
the extra money they would otherwise have to spend.

·A credit program is made that will make it easier for business to
invest in new ways to treat illness.

·A limit is placed on just how much of a percentage of the money an
insurer makes can be profit, to make sure they're not price-gouging customers.

·A limit is placed on what type of insurance accounts can be used
to pay for over-the-counter drugs without a prescription. Basically, your
insurer isn't paying for the Aspirin you bought for that hangover.

·Employers need to list the benefits they provided to employees on
their tax forms.

8/1/2012

·Any health plans sold after this date must provide preventative
care (mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.) without requiring any sort of co-pay or
charge.

1/1/2013

·If you make over $200,000 a year, your taxes go up a tiny bit
(0.9%). Edit: To address those who take issue with the word
"tiny", a change of 0.9% is relatively tiny. Any
look at how taxes have fluctuated over the years will reveal that a change of
less than one percent is miniscule, especially when we're
talking about people in the top 5% of earners.

1/1/2014

This is
when a lot of the really big changes happen.

·No more "pre-existing conditions". At all. People will
be charged the same regardless of their medical history.

·If you can afford insurance but do not get it, you will be charged
a fee. This is the "mandate" that people are talking about.
Basically, it's a trade-off for the "pre-existing conditions" bit,
saying that since insurers now have to cover you regardless of
what you have, you can't just wait to buy insurance until you get sick.
Otherwise no one would buy insurance until they needed it. You can opt not to
get insurance, but you'll have to pay the fee instead, unless of course you're
not buying insurance because you just can't afford it.

·Insurers now can't do annual spending caps. Their customers can
get as much health care in a given year as they need. ( Citation: Page
14, sec. 2711 )

·Make it so more poor people can get Medicaid by making the
low-income cut-off higher.

·Small businesses get some tax credits for two years.

·Businesses with over 50 employees must offer health insurance to
full-time employees, or pay a penalty.

·Limits how high of an annual deductible insurers can charge
customers.

·Cut some Medicare spending

·Place a $2500 limit on tax-free spending on FSAs (accounts for
medical spending). Basically, people using these accounts now have to pay taxes
on any money over $2500 they put into them.

·Establish health insurance exchanges and rebates for the lower and
middle-class, basically making it so they have an easier time getting
affordable medical coverage.

·Congress and Congressional staff will only be offered the same
insurance offered to people in the insurance exchanges, rather than Federal
Insurance. Basically, we won't be footing their health care bills any more than
any other American citizen.

·A new tax on pharmaceutical companies.

·A new tax on the purchase of medical devices.

·A new tax on insurance companies based on their market share.
Basically, the more of the market they control, the more they'll get taxed.

·The amount you can deduct from your taxes for medical expenses
increases.

1/1/2015

·Doctors' pay will be determined by the quality of their care, not
how many people they treat. Edit: a_real_MD addresses questions
regarding this one in far more detail and with far more expertise than I can
offer in this post.
If you're looking for a more in-depth explanation of this one (as many of you
are), I highly recommend you give his post a read.

1/1/2017

·If any state can come up with their own plan, one which gives
citizens the same level of care at the same price as the PPACA, they can ask
the Secretary of Health and Human Resources for permission to do their plan
instead of the PPACA. So if they can get the same results without, say, the mandate,
they can be allowed to do so. Vermont, for example, has expressed a desire to
just go straight to single-payer (in simple terms, everyone is covered, and
medical expenses are paid by taxpayers).

2018

·All health care plans must now cover preventative care (not just
the new ones).

The
biggest thing opponents of the bill have against it is the mandate. They claim
that it forces people to buy insurance, and forcing people to buy something is
unconstitutional. Personally, I take the opposite view, as it's not telling
people to buy a specific thing, just to have a specific type of thing, just
like a part of the money we pay in taxes pays for the police and firemen who
protect us, this would have us paying to ensure doctors can treat us for
illness and injury.

Plus, as
previously mentioned, it's necessary if you're doing away with
"pre-existing conditions" because otherwise no one would get
insurance until they needed to use it, which defeats the purpose of insurance.

Whew!
Hope that answers the question!

Edits: Fixing
typos.

Edit 2: Wow...
people have a lot of questions. I'm afraid I can't get to them now (got to go
to work), but I'll try to later.

Edit 3: Okay,
I'm at work, so I can't go really in-depth for some of the more complex
questions just now, but I'll try and address the simpler ones. Also, a few I'm
seeing repeatedly:

·For those looking for a source... well, here is
the text of the bill, all 974 pages of it (as it sits currently after being
amended multiple times). I can't point out page numbers just now, but they're
there if you want them.

·A lot of people are concerned about the 1/1/2015 bit that says
that doctors' pay will be tied to quality, not quantity. Because so many people
want to know more about this, I've sought out what I believe to be the
pertinent sections (From Page 307, section 3007). It looks like this part
alters a part of another bill, the Social Security
Act, passed a long while ago. That bill already regulates how
doctors' pay is determined. The PPACA just changes the criteria. Judging by how
professionals are writing about it, it looks like this is just
referring to Medicaid and Medicare. Basically, this is changing how much
thegovernment pays to doctors and medical groups, in situations
where they are already responsible for pay.

Edit 4:
Numerous people are pointing out I said "Medicare" when I meant
"Medicaid". Whoops. Fixed (I think).

Edit 5:
Apparently I messed up the acronym (initialism?). Fixed.

Edit 6: Fixed a
few more places where I mixed up terms (it was late, I was tired). Also, for
everyone asking if they can post this elsewhere, feel free to.

Edit 7: Okay, I
need to get to work. Thanks to everyone for the kind comments, and I hope I've
addressed the questions most of you have (that I can actually answer). I just
want to be sure to say, I'm just a guy. I'm no expert, and everything I posted
here I attribute mostly to Wikipedia or the actual bill
itself, with an occasional Google search to clarify stuff. I am
absolutely not a difinitive source or expert. I was just trying to simplify
things as best I can without dumbing them down. I'm glad that many of you found
this helpful.

Edit 8: Wow,
this has spread all over the internet... and I'm kinda' embarrassed because
what spread included all of my 2AM typos and mistakes. Well, it's too late to
undo my mistakes now that the floodgates have opened. I only hope that people
aren't too harsh on me for the stuff I've tried to go back and correct.

Edit 9: Added a
few citations (easy-to-find stuff). But I gotta' run, so the rest will have to
wait.